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Decoupling your application from the details provides you with the ability to defer implementation decisions until you have a clearer picture of what you really need. In addition, decoupling has the added benefit of making it easier to test your system. In this post I want to take a closer look the Repository Pattern as a way that we can decouple ourselves from one of those details: the database.

Flustered by so much JavaScript? Concerned with all the seemingly new patterns to learn? Confused about how to organize it? You are not alone. Let me put it another way: if you work on a ASP.NET MVC project take a look at all of the dll’s in your references folder. How many is too many there? I bet they don’t bother most folks. Rarely do I hear complaints about that. Is it because Microsoft put them there? Or is it because they are out of sight out of mind? Or possibly we are just used to them being there. Now let’s take a look at the 3rd party JavaScript libraries...

If a library offers more value than me writing it, then I am fine using it.

Linux is used for everything at SpaceX. The Falcon, Dragon, and Grasshopper vehicles use it for flight control, the ground stations run Linux, as do the developers' desktops.... The Dragon flight system... is a fault-tolerant system in order to satisfy NASA requirements for when it gets close to the ISS. There are rules about how many faults a craft needs to be able to tolerate and still be allowed to approach the station. It uses triply redundant computers to achieve the required level of fault tolerance. The Byzantine generals' algorithm is used to handle situations where the computers do not agree. That situation could come about because of a radiation event changing memory or register values, for example.

Please, for the love of God, someone grab that article author's keyboard, and remove the quote key. Every "f***ing" sentence included "at least one" phrase that was "enclosed in quotes". I got vertigo trying to read the thing.

"In his team, they have a full-size Justin Bieber cutout that gets placed facing the team member who broke the build. They found that "100% of software engineers don't like Justin Bieber", and will work quickly to fix the build problem. "

If there was ever justification for a hostile workplace lawsuit this is it.

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius

Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt

The Windows Blue update is expected to roll out this summer or fall, and is the first in Microsoft’s new Windows update plan. Instead of rolling out a new operating system every two to five years, Microsoft is speeding up and moving toward yearly Windows upgrades. But Windows Blue isn’t limited to only touch improvements. Several reports indicate that the next version of Windows will see an updated Search Charm, support for smaller (7- and 8-inch) devices, and built-in Internet Explorer 11.

Neowin has several more articles, currently halfway down their front page, about other stuff seen in it.

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius

Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt

As promotions go, this is an odd one. Paying developers to develop for your platform is a risky business.... In an argument put forward by former Microsoft employee Charlie Kindel (who led the company's developer outreach efforts for Windows Phone 7), it does more than reflect a wilting app market. This move attracts developers who aren't particularly invested in the success of the platform (and hence in the quality and support of their applications), but are trying to make a fast buck from cranking out simple applications.

In the last few years, an interesting alternative to paper currency has risen in the form of Bitcoin. I started paying attention to Bitcoin two years ago, and have owned some ever since. I’ve purchased physical and digital goods with it, as well as traded it for cash. It’s particularly intriguing to me because it maintains the core properties of economic models while creating a system of inflation guided by encryption algorithms rather than humans. And it’s grown in huge popularity over that time, with a net worldwide worth of over $750 million USD at the time of this writing. Many people have asked me about Bitcoin, so here’s a basic introduction to what Bitcoin is and how it works.

Microsoft today released two of its new Windows Embedded 8 operating system products today, with a third product expected next month.... Microsoft's embedded operating systems, while based on Windows 8, are designed for use with specialized devices, kiosks and electronic signs. Each OS has its nuances. The embedded versions have a lot of the functionality of their desktop OS cousins, but "not all of the functionality,"... Moreover, some of the embedded OSes are modular and let the OEM swap out features, while others are more fixed. There's also a middle ground.

A computer on every desk and in every home... and every salescounter, and every gas pump, and...

How can I contemplate moving everything to the cloud, especially Google’s cloud, if services are going to flicker in and out of existence at the whim of Google’s management? That’s a non-starter. Google has scrapped services in the past, and though I’ve been sympathetic with the people who complained about the cancellation, they’ve been services that haven’t reached critical mass. You can’t say that about Google Reader. And if they’re willing to scrap Google Reader, why not Google Docs?

If you're moving an older app from IIS6 (which by definition was only "classic" mode) to IIS 8, the best near-term decision is to run in Classic Mode on IIS8. Classic Mode is fully supported so you aren’t doing anything wrong by running in classic mode. It's a mode that is there for a reason. Think about your reasons and make an educated decision.

Is it really being retired if you're just shifting the suckage to a new location?

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius

Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt

Not sure how the move is going to happen. They may just copy files over to a fresh VM, which would be nice. That would upgrade IIS, and it would increase the free space (we frequently have issues because space runs out). Also, being part of a VM would be nice, because we can upgrade it at any time without too much hassle with hardware.

I've seen a disturbing trend in both Apple and Microsoft recently towards sacrificing functionality for the sake of security. This is seen in what Microsoft is doing to Windows 8 and what Apple is doing to the iPhone, iPad, and the newer versions of Mac OS X.

"Gaming companies also hate Windows 8 because of how locked down it is." - well Valve/Steam, only the (User-Interface formerly known as Metro) app's are more locked down. Also, Valve are in the process of creating their own box, so maybe a conflict of interest.

That guy has no clue what he is talking about. I think he is a hardcore Linux user that wants M$ and Apple to die in the depths of hell. Not to say that I don't know some people like that (as I do, and I try to stay as far away from them as physically and technologically possible, as they will go ballistic when someone is using Windows or OS X and start screaming. Six out of the eight I know have served jail time for assault/battery, the other two have not gone that far [yet... ])

Used judiciously, beta testing programs can be valuable, but modern software development practices challenges the whole notion of beta testing. How do you fit beta testing cycles in already compressed release cycles or with frequent releases? And as user reviews and ratings of applications become more transparent through social and app store review channels, the definition of "app quality" is slowly morphing from functional correctness to user-perceived value. Doesn't that change the entire premise of a beta testing program?

This is a port of LLIte in C. The reason for it is to experiment with writing functional code in standard C and compare the experience with using a functional language like F#.... I have to say, it didn’t feel too cumbersome to structure C code in a functional way, assuming that you can use GLib and a couple of GCC extensions to the language. It certainly doesn’t have the problems that C++ has in terms of debugging STL failures.